My friend [and net zero house building guru] Peter Amerongen of
Habitat Studio & Workshop and I have been bouncing back and forth on the energy model for this house. In his mind, you need to aim to be under 10,000 kWh of total energy use to get a house to net zero. The theory being that it would be feasible to add enough solar power through passive heat gain and PV modules to balance your energy needs. Well, we're workin' on it. We're at about 12,000 kWh at the moment. We still have to fine tune some details. I have been working on this since last December [2009]! and energy modeling is to help you design the appropriate building envelope, size of windows, heating system, etc. It has been useful in making decisions about where to spend money on insulation.
I have to say I'm somewhat frustrated with the energy modeling software [
Hot2000] that we have been trying to get work to give us reliable numbers. A few weeks ago, we were getting really odd numbers. It turned out that we had to toggle OFF a separate thermostat for the basement. Now we're getting somewhere. If you want to see our Hot2000 house report, you can
click here!. I also have to thank Conrad Nobert of
Green Edmonton blog fame for his thoughts on this too.
Hello, my name is Guylain and I am currently in the planning phase for our new house (Sherbrooke, QC). I've been playing with Hot2000 for some months but without much previous experience with this software. I would appreciate if you could send me the Hot2000 file for your house so that I can check if I forgot something.
ReplyDeleteThanks and Good luck for your project! It is very interesting to read your blog. Came from GreenEdmonton blog.
Guylain
GuylainLavoie(AT)gmail.com
I don't really work on residential buildings but I'd still like to see what kind of data you were able to get from the program. I was recommended Rem/rate for residential energy modeling. is this program comparable?
ReplyDeleteHello Laurent,
ReplyDeleteI can send you the Hot2000 results file if you tell me where to email it. I have not heard of Rem/rate. I did try EcoDesigner as a plugin for ArchiCAD [my BIM software] that the house was designed/drawn in. It provided adequate results. Hot2000 provided better sensitivities though.
I've found a way to be to provide the PDF file! Thanks to Scribd! It's now a clickable link in the post above!
ReplyDelete